The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1887-05-20
FOREIGN GOSSIP


4. 4
witnessing some court ceremonial at Homo
lulu. az which the King and his courtiers wear
handsome American uniforms, respondent |
with gold lace and orders, while the Queen and
her ladies' appear in full court dress, finds it |
hard to realize that In 1920 the Hawaiians went |
naked and offered human sacrifices to hideous
GODS When the American missionaries arrived
there in 1890 the King, having previously sig
nif6d his intention Of showing them honor by
dining on board their vessel, arrived in a mar
row waist-fringe q crown Of scarlet feathers,
4 necklace of beads and green silk scarf
thrown over the shoulders But they were
stiil further shocked when, as soon as they
were established in q house on shore, they
received repeated visits from the King and his
Eve wives all completely naked. After while
the American ladies mustered courage enough /
to drop hint on the subject, whereupon
the King, being exceedingly anxious to do the
right thing, called next morning attired in
pair Of silk stockings and cooked hat.
Two amusing instances of the me-
chanical workings of bureaucratic methods of
administration are recorded in the Paris
papers. At the recent wreck of the steamship
Victoria as the passengers who made their
escape came dripping out of the sea half dead
from exhaustion, they were received on the
beach by a couple OF officers who insisted upon
getting from them. at once, their statements
in regard to the disaste. The other case was
that of conscript. who was entitled to ex-
emption by reason of being the sole support
Of an aged grandfather. whom he brought
along with HIM In proof of his claim. The Off
Ger called upon the old man to strip for exami-
nation like the rest, and in spite of all expos
tulations he insisted on the ground that his
orders were that all who presented themselves
should be examined, and SO the poor old blind
- TO-
his place with the youths drawn up to wait for
the medical inspector.
Reynolds Newspaper, an English work.
ingmen's paper Of enormous circulation, gives
this kindly notice of the peerage: "The English
peer is an Interesting object. He may be mean,
or ugly. or in low circumstances; he may be
wife kicking drunkard or Duke of Marlbor-
ough, or he may lunch on a herring in cook
shop in company with coal-heaver. after the
fashion of Lord Hinton, but as he sits with his
coronet tipped rakishly on one side and his ala
baster limbs stacked on the mantelpiece there
is an indefnable grace and refinementsupon him
that makes him a thing of beauty and joy
forever Consequently, no true Briton will
regret to hear that during the last thirtv-flve
years, $50 peers have run no less than 1891 rela-
tives into lifelong billets in the government
service, making good average of fifteen pau
pers which each has planted on his bleeding
country.
Owen Parry, an English soldier, had a
dream of a buried treasure that did not turn out
after the melodramatic STYLE He had served
twelve years in the army and had obtained
medals for good conduct in the Egyptian and
Afghan campaigns. While in Egypt he
dreamed that under certain boulder stone on
certain highway in England an immense
amount Of treasure lay hidden. So strong was
the impression made upon him that he de-
serted and made his way to England and began
searching for the unexpected gold. Accompa-
MED by party of his friends he searched for
that boulder stone and buried treasure, over
turning many stones and making numerous
excavations, but the only result of his labors
was to attract the attention of the police, and
at present he is in Jail awaiting trial on the
charge Of desertion.
The Odessa papers report that in
the Russian village Of Obodney rich but igno-
rant peasant received visit lately from three
venerable looking men dressed in flowing
robes, who informed him that they were Christ
and the Apostles Peter and Paul. They severely
censured him on the score Of his lack of
charity, and the terrified peasant, falling upon
his knees, begged them for mercy. and gave
them over 800 silver roubles, which was all the
money he had in the house. Fortunately for
him his neighbors were not as superstitious as
himself, and before the impostors got away
crowd overpowered them and gave them into
custody.
Recently the inhabitants of the village
of Mumble's Head in England, have been in
Estate Of excitement over the nocturnal visit
alton Of ghost. A number Of the most cour-
ageous men of the place lay in wait for the
spook one night, and when it appeared duly
robed in white, after the usual fashion of
ghosts, they laid hands upon it. and discovered
that they had hold of prominent member of
the Salvation Army. He explained that his
masquerading was simply an ingenious method
OF rousing popular attention to the affairs of
the world to come, but that did not save him
from receiving sound logging.
Ardent patriotism probably never took
p more curious form than in the case of q
young Alsatian, who was drawn as conscript
in the German army. When he was examined
by the military surgeon it was found that
nearly the whole Of his body was tattooed over
with the words ssYiye la Francel' There was
only one exception to the inscription with
which the Alsatian had adorned himself, and
this consisted Of an equally brief sentence ex-
pressive of the utmost contempt for the Prus-
slams. He was given sentence of six months
imprisonment as reward for his ingenuity.
The Archduke Ferdinand of Austria
has been disgraced and forbidden the court in
consequence of q most gross outrage on some
peasants which was brought to the notice of
the Emperor by the Bishop of Linz. 1t is stated
that the archduke and some of his equally
harebrained brother officers were riding in the
country when they met a peasant funeral.
They compelled the procession to stop, insulted
the mourners, and finally incredible as it
seems they are accused of having opened the
coffin. and then of having taken the corpse ont